Not eligable for benefits

seven-day-weekend

None of this is helping the OP, the answer to whom is that if you have savings over £16000, unfortunately you will not be entitled to ANY means-tested benefits.

If you have savings between £6000 and £16000 you may be entitled to reduced benefits.

If your savings are below £6000 they will not be counted for benefits purposes.

You are allowed however to set some aside for house purchase purposes for a limited time. Tell the Benefits people this and they may reconsider your claim.

Good luck.

seven-day-weekend

daveboy wrote: »

You have £16k in savings yet you still want to take the taxpayer for a ride too?

Well done DWP - I don't want to pay to support someone who has enough to look after themselves.

And in reply to this quote, the OP isn't 'taking anyone for a ride' - he simply asked if he was entitled to any benefits. Some of us have tried to give him sensible advice. This board is not the place for these sort of comments. If you wish to discuss issues, please do so on Discussion Time.

calleyw

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

You are allowed however to set some aside for house purchase purposes for a limited time. Tell the Benefits people this and they may reconsider your claim.

Good luck.

I thought that only true if it was the profits from selling a house not that you where going to use savings to purchase a house.

I see the savings are from a divorce settlement. So not sure if that included the selling of a family home or not.

I am not sure what else the OP can do. They will be able to get JSA for 6 months but after that they would have to live off of the savings until they are under the 16K mark. Harsh I know but that is life.

I wish the OP all the best and hope they find a job quickly.


Yours


Calley

michaelvintner

sharski wrote: »

Well personally.... I would rather have people claiming JSA (Conts) for a mere 6 months after having paid into the system... than the current majority who claim for years having paid NOTHING....

It's not rocket science... God help you cynical people if you ever fall on hard times during this pending recession.. shame on you.

Exactly, someone using their brain, thank you, exactly what I was trying to say. When I was made redundant last year, I was entitled to JSA Contribution based, Local Housing Allowance and Council tax credits. I was told by the Jobcentre that JSA contribution based was not means tested and savings did not count.

I think the only thing the op is entitled to is JSA contribution based. It might be worth applying for LHA and CTC but it is up to the council to decide if you get this or not. If you don't ask, you don't get.

JSA is around £56 a week which is worth having.

With savings of £16000 in the bank, I doubt you the op will get anything but all you can do is ask.

Some people one this board have a very one sided view of life. I think they need to put themselves in other people shoes for a change.

michaelvintner

uktyler wrote: »

I've paid into the state for 20 years (off and on), I've even paid taxes in the UK whilst I've worked abroad. If we allowed everyone in the OP's position to keep their savings your taxes would go up, are you happy for this to happen?

I would not. My tax money is wasted in enough ways, and I want the money I do give to be spent on those in need, not those who may want to buy a house in the future.

If I lost my job tomorrow I would spend my savings, as i don't want to ponce off of everyone else.

The OP is in rented accomodation at present, and I presume they are happy with it, the whole own your own home culture has a lot to answer for, why exactly should we help fund the OP's house purchase?

Fine, you can go and spend your savings. I on the other hand will keep what I can and claim what I am entitled to.

I have paid in and as far as I am am concerned I am entitled to get it back if I need to.

chequebook_lil

thanks to everyone for their comments. The amount of savings I have was a divorce settlement which I didn't want. We had just moved to a new house in the country, taken on a larger mortgage, and this was going to be our retirement home. To cut a long story short, my husband had a "mid life crisis", had an affair, threatened to kill me, and to have me thrown out of my own house. Eventually I had to leave before he killed me, and I slept on my parents settee for 5 weeks before relocating to another district where I felt safe. I had to leave a job I loved, but I found work and I was working 50 to 60 hours a week. So at the age of 51 I am having to start again, and being made redundant hasn't helped. All I wanted was a bit of help to pay for food, travel expenses to interviews. The jobseeker allowance isn't enough to pay rent, which I havn't claimed for, so I would be using the savings for that. I wonder why I have paid tax and NI for years if you are not entitled to anything when you need it.

uktyler

chequebook_lil wrote: »

thanks to everyone for their comments. The amount of savings I have was a divorce settlement which I didn't want. We had just moved to a new house in the country, taken on a larger mortgage, and this was going to be our retirement home. To cut a long story short, my husband had a "mid life crisis", had an affair, threatened to kill me, and to have me thrown out of my own house. Eventually I had to leave before he killed me, and I slept on my parents settee for 5 weeks before relocating to another district where I felt safe. I had to leave a job I loved, but I found work and I was working 50 to 60 hours a week. So at the age of 51 I am having to start again, and being made redundant hasn't helped. All I wanted was a bit of help to pay for food, travel expenses to interviews. The jobseeker allowance isn't enough to pay rent, which I havn't claimed for, so I would be using the savings for that. I wonder why I have paid tax and NI for years if you are not entitled to anything when you need it.

This is the point though, you don't NEED the money if you have £16,000 in savings.

Oldernotwiser

michaelvintner wrote: »

I have paid in and as far as I am am concerned I am entitled to get it back if I need to.

You can't treat the benefits system like some kind of rainy day savings plan, that's not the way it works and it was never intended to do so.

Bayblue

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You can't treat the benefits system like some kind of rainy day savings plan, that's not the way it works and it was never intended to do so.

I think that this comment was a tad harsh because actually, it could be considered that it's those who haven't saved anything for emergencies who can 'treat the benefits system as some kind of rainy day savings plan', and not the other way around. However I do agree that it's not and should never be treated like some kind of social insurance scheme. Most taxpayers realise that they'll never get back even a small percentage of the amount they've paid in, it just doesn't work like that.

Anyway, as others have said lil should claim JSA and any other benefits and see what happens- no harm in asking. I doubt that she will get anything other than contributions based job seekers allowance, which is payable for the first six months. Also remember to ask about any training courses which could help you get a job quicker, again often things won't be offered you may need to ask. Having been there myself not so long ago it's a horrible time I know, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Best of luck.

Becles

chequebook_lil wrote: »

I wonder why I have paid tax and NI for years if you are not entitled to anything when you need it.

It's not like a savings account, where you pay in expecting to get it back at a later date. What you pay in tax covers those in need at the time of your payment.

At the moment the rules say you are not eligible for means tested benefits if you have over £16K in savings. You are expected to live on your savings until they drop enough for you to claim benefit. That's drop by normal spending - don't go out and buy a new car otherwise you can be seen as spending money just to gain benefits and they won't give you anything.

Whether you think the rules are moral or right is another matter.

I know how frustrated you must be. Have you looked at temping agencies? I've usually found work quickly through agencies when I've been desperate. It may not be the best job in the world or what you want to do, but at least it's money coming in until you find something better. Also retailers are looking for temp staff now for the Christmas period.